Gun Owners of America at the Capitol on the First Day of the 116th U.S. Congress

Even though today marks the beginning of the 116th Congress, Gun Owners of America isn’t waiting around like a wallflower in the corner of the dance hall. They’ve already jumped right in on the first day. Erich Pratt is in the capitol and has already met with freshman Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) to press the case for gun rights.

Courtesy Erich Pratt

Why did GOA make a point of visiting Rep. Steube? Because he’s a fighter, and I don’t say that simply based on his campaign record or military service. I can say that from personal experience.

Prior to Rep. Steube being sworn into Congress, he was a Florida state representative and senator. When he was in the Florida senate, he authored and pushed for open carry and campus carry bills each year. He was only defeated because of turncoat Republicans like Anitere Flores and Rene Garcia.

In my conversations with then-senator Steube, he was clearly determined to fight as best he could against the stacked deck that was and is the Florida Republican-controlled legislature. He truly believes in the Second Amendment and was always willing to not only sign onto bills that supported expanding gun rights, he also authored them. This is one Floridian who’s glad he’s in Congress.

In addition to Rep. Steube, the GOA’s Pratt also met with Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY).

Courtesy Erich Pratt

Rep. Roy is another freshman member of Congress. Prior to winning the election he worked as Sen. Ted Cruz’s chief of staff and later served as the First Assistant Attorney General of Texas. He was also a major supporter in Ted Cruz’s 2016 presidential campaign.

If lord LaPierre requires but a mere 1 million a year in exchange for his magnificent feats, then so be it!!! ‘Tis but a small price to pay for the sun rising in the morning to lie but a faint kiss upon one’s fair brow and continue to ensure that the stars shine indomitably in the night sky.

Do you honestly imagine that the NRA doesn’t have lobbyists working at the capital? Or is it more likely that their lobbyists aren’t such novices that they excitedly post pictures of themselves having two inconsequential meetings while screaming “LOOK AT US!”?

To hell with the NRA’s lobbyists and pro 2A efforts. They have much more important tasks at hand……Every day before breakfast, Wayne Lappiere and his ever faithful sidekick Chris Cox (along with their ever loyal membership of 5 million hunters and sportsmen) take their super secret NRA space ship (which was once lent to NASA for an unspecified reason that involved the moon) into the exosphere. After achieving a stable orbit they adroitly ensure by secrets means(Involving membership donations) that the planet is still maintaining a perpetual state of angular momentum.

DAMNIT PEOPLE!!! Does it have to be EXPLAINED that WITHOUT THE NRA the SUN would CEASE to RISE in the MORNING!?!?!? If not for them the Earth would be burnt to a crisp on one side and frozen on the other in darkness and ice. People can’t be so damn selfish, for the love of God please join the NRA and generously contribute to their Sun rising efforts!!!

Wayne Lappier, nay Deus Sol Invictus as he shall henceforth be known, and the NRA need contributions, unless all the ingrates and haters out there want to see the Sun stop rising. The blatant truth is that nobody else can accomplish such a monumental task, and it’s all done before breakfast.

Honestly, I’m coming up to the end of my 3 year membership. Quite frankly, I will not renew because I am tired of the donate, donate, donate, donate, and then one day I look at what the officers were paid. Educate yourself, If the NRA is all we have, we are F—-d.

Alas, because of people like you the Sun won’t rise tomorrow. GOA may oppose a bump stock ban and be able to file a few cases in court, but for the love of God man the NRA ensures that the Sun comes up in the morning and they need contributions!!!

Can I suggest that we support GOA **AND** the NRA! Like it or not, the NRA is the face of the pro-gun movement to the public. And if they fail, as they are currently suffering financially from Cuomo’s attacks, that would be an incredible psychological win for the Anti-gunners. And that win would motivate people to give even more support to the anti-2A movement.

Look, we need to be united as never before! The anti-gun movement speaks with one voice and are bragging that for the first time ever, they outspent us in the last election.

I truly wish groups like the GOA and the NRA (and the 2nd Amendment Foundation) would publicly unite and coordinate their efforts.

Personally, I support all 3 of them as well as several smaller groups. I think that’s money will spent.

That’s what I’m talking about! This bickering is costing us. I belong to several pro 2A groups, including NRA, GOA, CPRA (CA Pistol and Rifle), Redding Gun Club, and more.

The NRA is the longest standing pro 2A organization. It’s in your face of every gun hating citizen just by the nature of it’s recognition as the leading pro 2A organization. I do not support all of it’s positions, but I also do not support all the positions of the GOP yet I would never join the Dimwit Party.

The NRA only has 5M members out of 320M citizens. Lost are the millions of gun owners who don’t belong to any group, owners who belong to one or more of the many gun groups at local and state levels. Think what it would be like if all these groups banned together and showed DC how we really feel on a unified basis.

We must cease this bickering which supports the progressive “divide and conquer” tactic. We are defeating ourselves.

You’re talking out of your ass! If you are for the NRA,why are you talking shit about them
giving b.j.’s to BATFE? Try real hard and pull your head someone’s ass andmake up your
mind which side you’re on.Your lack of logic is going to get you or some else killed.

John Trask, Esoteric Inanity will confirm that he cannot in fact speak from his rectum, let alone type with it. This one will also object to any perceived notion of being for the NRA. Esoteric Inanity understand that his prior comments lauding the NRA’s fictional accomplishments of making the sun rise in the morning via a secret spaceship could be construed as legitimate support, but it is only sarcasm and parody.

This one also doesn’t believe that a lobbying organization is literally performing a sexual act on a bureaucratic agency. Neither lobbying organizations or bureaucratic agencies have a mouth or phallus. However, in spite of this, both the NRA and BATFE sure love to screw people over.

Apologies for offending John Trask, but Esoteric Inanity’s sardonic quips are unlikely to get anyone of importance killed.

Also, the NRA is not responsible for the continued existence of the Second Amendment any more than they are for the sun rising in the morning.

I really do get a lot of mail from NRA requesting more and more money. I also get lots of mail from SAF, GOA, CCRKBA, and all manner of others requesting more money, I think it’s time to drop pretending to distinguish who is the good guys by whether they ask for money, EVERYBODY asks for money, and if you send some, they all ask for MORE money.

As a M-Assachusetts (peasents), I mean resident…All I can say, is he hoodwinked a lot of Moron Utah voters…He’s nothing more that a GOP RINO Globalist RepubliCON from the People’s Republic of M-Assachusetts…! Just like his other predecessors…Like our current, anti-2nd amendment (R=RINO Globalist) Gov. Charile “The Barker” Baker…Both never saw a gun 🔫 control bill they didn’t like, and are very good friends with DemoCommies within this politically corrupt Sanctuary state…

By what I can find about the Likes and Dislikes of those living in Utah! There’s a Vast descent amoungst Utahans on what Donald Trump has become and his personal views on how this country (the United States) should be ruled (Governed). And after 2-years Donald Trump doesn’t seem to be the answer, even amongst the Mormon population living in the State. Or they (Utahans) wouldn’t have voted for Mitt Romney with ~59% of the State’s Votes. His nearest Challenger (Trump supporter) received only ~23% of the State’s Votes…

“60 votes” was always just an excuse. You think it’s a coincidence they passed a hundred repeals of Obamacare when it was safe to do so, but couldn’t even muster a single pro-gun test vote like the Dems are always doing for AWB’s/etc when they have the floor?

It’s because there weren’t 51 pro-gun Republican votes, and there never were. And there never will be.

Think of how many ‘squishes,’ RINOs, big-city thinkers, and general-purpose scumbags bought by Bloomberg are among the Senate Republicans, and subtract their number from whatever majority they claimed to hold.

We’ve been lied to about the state of our representation going on 30-50 years now. At least in the 80s we got the occasional moment of attention with FOPA, even if it was a Pyrrhic victory that will ban all semi-autos through additional executive action at this rate. All those millions of dollars in donations to “lobbying” groups, all that time spent protesting to support figures promising to work with the RNC to see our interests finally addressed.

Here comes the “Minority Report/Red Flag/Red Ball…” Nothing says let’s destroy our constitutional republic then attempting to do an end run around “due process, the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th ,& 14 th….There should be “Red Flags laws ” for politicians that propose Anti-freedom/Anti-liberty 🗽 bills…Where THEY get dragged out of THEIR cushy offices minute THEY over step THEIR bounds! Term limits. Must make Federal minimum wage requirements to prevent “royalty syndrome.”

We told all you guys back in 2016 that nominating Trump would lead to a vocally anti-gun wing emerging in the Republican Party; now we’ve lost one of about three major population centers that still supported gun rights (Florida) guaranteeing anti-gun Democrat & Republican presidents for the next couple generations, and we will be harried from both sides of the aisle by gun banners who can no longer agree to collaborate on ANYTHING but destroying us.

Ah yes, because traitorous RINOS DIDNT EXIST BEFORE TRUMP. I swear, you self-righteous Never Trumpers are as bad as the leftists you claim to despise. Yes, Trump has supported some really shitty things regarding gun rights, but you wanna blame him entirely for the current gun control movement? So, what, you think if Trump hadn’t been nominated we would have entered a golden age for gun rights, with the repeal of every infringement and an end to hoplophobia? I think you should go work for CNN, you’d fit right in

They were definitely too scared to open their traps. Remember? You Trump sycophants already can’t even remember a time when gun control was a third rail for Democrats, let alone Republicans. When a Dem president was forced to take an embarrassing picture with a shotgun & couldn’t pass UBC’s even on the backs of 20 dead children, while a sitting “pro-gun” president has yet to be filmed with a working non-flintlock in his hands at any point in his life and is confiscating nearly a million firearms in a little under three months per his direct order. I didn’t like Trump, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt after his unexpected election right up until he started in on banning guns & gun owners again, just like he has after every shooting since forever, including back on the campaign trail during the primaries when sycophants like yourself assured us we were idiots for noticing a pattern.

We’re past the point where we can afford to nurse your pathetic emotional investment; we’re just about done having gun rights in this country thanks to these final nails Trump is hell-bent on driving. Look at what’s happening, and who is responsible, then swallow the bitter pill that you made a mistake, and should think rationally if or when we ever get a shot at political power again in the next several generations. And if you can’t do that, that you stay home during the primary so people that are mature enough to identify flim-flammers and gun-banners can make the hard choice for you, and give you clear options in the general.

Agreed, Red. TTAG editorially was never a Trump supporter and it still attracts it’s share of Neverland dwellers who still think one of the political pygmies who ran against Trump in the ’16 election could have actually defeated Hillary.

I mean no disrespect or derision for Erich Pratt, Gun Owners of America, or any other pro-rights organization. I have a simple question: what is an effective strategy?

Does Mr. Pratt’s visit to pro 2nd Amendment Congressman actually accomplish anything? At best I think it would encourage those Congressman to vote in favor of our rights. And yet, how does that even matter right now since gun-grabbers have a majority in the House of Representatives?

How can we get a majority of Democrats and Republicans to vote for pro-2nd Amendment laws? In my opinion, there is no way. Would we be better off using the money that we spend on fruitless visits to Congress for pivotal court cases?

I’ll probably get hammered for this, but this is just my perspective as a liberal gun owner (not SJW, old school mind you) who votes Democrat.

I want to see gun rights held as a BIPARTISAN issue. This would bring us liberal gun owners into the fold in a positive way. Personally, the NRA lost me when they started spouting off on a bunch of issues that have nothing to do with guns: gayness, brownness, marriage, whatever.

The old trophe in politics is that if you have to append a bunch of issues onto your issue, you don’t have a very strong issue to begin with, or you’re not presenting it in a very strong way.

As a liberal gun owner, I want the discussion about guns to be about GUNS. Nothing else. Not religion. Not lifestyle. Not whether someone has kids or not or whether they drink a black coffee or a soy latte or ride an electric scooter or drive a truck to work.

Unfortunately I have already seen GOA start to go down the same mistaken path that the NRA did that lost the liberal gun owners. Already heard some anti gay rhetoric. What in the hell does gayness have to do with guns? Answer: IT DOESN’T. Leave all the social crap aside and just talk about guns. There’s plenty to do with just guns. Be bipartisan and welcoming to people who own and use guns responsibly regardless of how they vote, if you run a gun owners association.

While I continue to feel that you are sincere, I find it difficult to take you seriously as a champion of civil rights when you vote for people who are determined to usher in Soviet-style communism. The blue dogs are dead. The DNC is too nutty even for Webb, and Manchin is barely hanging in there.

The spineless GOP isn’t much better, mind you, but at least they are not actively trying their damndest to punish me for being born a white male.

I do not – based on my ongoing time in a Socialist country every year where my relatives live – believe that socialism can take root in the United States. It is a complete mismatch for our culture from the word Go. I think this is a false issue with very little real merit that is being used to keep gun owners divided – portraying liberal gun owners as somehow being ‘the enemy’ or ‘anti 2A.’

I’d argue in response that by conflating gun rights with what appears to be a white supremacist agenda to many, that the NRA is actually reducing the rights of gun owners to be perceived as reasonable, responsible people. The question of why they are doing such a thing is open for speculation. A strong bipartisan gun owners presence is the antidote to the problem they have created.

Guns are not, and should not be, a partisan issue. If it is a right that extends to every citizen, then it extends to brown, female, and gay citizens too. To say on one hand you are defending the rights of all citizens and then on the other badmouth and slander whole handfuls of those same citizens is ultimate hypocrisy. Especially when you’re letting Russian agents groom you at the same time. I hope the GOA will learn from the mistakes of the NRA.

@Elaine D. I’m glad to see a Democrat who believes in American Exceptionalism, because that’s the only possible explanation for “it can’t happen here.” Either we are no better than others who have succumbed to socialism, and it CAN happen here, or we’re just better than everybody else. I personally think it can happen here, but I am glad to see at least one Democrat who believes we are just better than everyone else.

White supremacist agenda!? Are you fucking kidding me? What kind of liberal rag do you huff? You’re statement genuinely doesn’t even deserve a proper response, and only put downs and scorn. If this is the kind of political Trash TTAG wants to become, then I hope it continues its slide into internet hell. I’ll continue to visit to dish out insults along the way while I enjoy the flames.

I don’t base that view on American exceptionalism. I base it on spending time in a Socialist country, with Socialist people, for whom Socialism actually works. Not everyone needs or wants a capitalist, individualistic system like ours, or would do well with it. There are many ways for humans to live.

The United States is not that country. And will never be that country, for a lot of reasons. The cultural underpinnings aren’t there.

While the culture of the US does not support socialism (I was referring to communism from the DNC, but for the sake of argument…) that does *NOT* mean it will not happen here. It will be forced upon us whether we like it or not. Or at least tried to. Vietnam has decidedly moved *away* from it communist bent, especially since the late 90s. Much like China in some aspects, they are socialist in name only after enjoying the fruits of capitalism for so long.

My issue isn’t with “liberals” (a true misnomer if ever there was one). It is with those who hold freedom dear, then vote for people who despise said freedom. I get that not everyone is a single-issue voter. Fine, but don’t complain when that single issue is swept aside for feel-good measures that strip you of your rights. The simple adage of “Respect the threat” very much applies to politics, and anyone who turns on the 2A is communist-scum in my humble opinion.

And the “white-nationalist” agends is pure BS. When the nation is still comprised of a majority of white people, and those people are told they “need not apply” as the alter of intersectionality is built ever-higher, there is a problem. The social struggle at that point is *not* about equality. It is about *revenge*.

Voting for Democrats now is voting against your inalienable rights, including the 2nd Amendment (which the Democrats now want to repeal).

It wasn’t always like this. At one time, there were many Democrat politicians that had good ratings from the NRA because they were pro-2A. The NRA didn’t leave the Democrats, the Democrats stopped being pro-2A.

Furthermore, in the past, you would rarely hear a politician attack our inalienable rights let alone call for the repeal of any of them.

Elaine D.
I agree with your statement that gun rights would be best served by a bipartisan effort. After all is said and done the members of congress took an oath to uphold the Constitution.
I would point out that G.O.A.’s stance on other issues such as gayness seems to stem from a genuine religious conviction. I have heard Eric Pratt speak on two occasions and I believe his stands on these other issues are genuine. It may not be to our liking but at least he is consistent with his own beliefs.
If someone doesn’t agree with me on a social issue they aren’t my enemy. We just disagree on an issue. Gun rights are not, in my mind a social issue, they are a human right.

Sure. I completely understand people having their own personal beliefs. What I’m saying is that if you ar running an organization based on your support of ALL citizens having certain rights, maybe keep your personal beliefs out of it and do just that. I really don’t think it’s that hard to do. The Nature Conservancy has done an amazing job of getting both sides to support the stewardship of American lands by sticking to one simple issue. It can be done, there’s people out there doing it successfully.

George, what you describe is a good reason for people who support GOA to start another group, perhaps GBA (Gay Bashers of America) or even just BBA (Bible Bigots of America), but Elaine is precisely correct here, the money I used to donate to GOA was not intended to prop up some asshat’s “genuine religious convictions” or whatever nonsense. There will not be more.

This one might even be considered a liberal in the classic sense, however, he would rarely go by such a term as it has been co-opted by those with radical socialist agendas. Libertarian seems to be a more appropriate albeit not entirely correct term. Bear with Esoteric Inanity as he tends to chase cats down rabbit holes in search of mushrooms.

“I want to see gun rights held as a BIPARTISAN issue. This would bring us liberal gun owners into the fold in a positive way.”

A logical desire as all countrymen should be concerned with their rights and potential infringements upon them. This ought be irrespective of race, gender, and political identity. Unfortunately, such things are rarely the case. To many Democrats nowadays the Second Amendment is what the Fourth Amendment is to many Republicans; Which is something that no harm can come of from further degradation. Sadly, even most Democrats are starting to overlook the importance of the Fourth Amendment.

Esoteric Inanity is however, currently unaware of a single elected Democrat at the national level who is what one might call pro gun. In all honesty, he isn’t even conscious of one that believes that the right to keep and bear arms is fine as is, with no further need for prohibitive legislation. One must understand that it is somewhat difficult to believe that the Second Ammendment can be once again held as sacrosanct by those that belong to a political party without so much as a staunch advocate at the national level for said right.

Perhaps Elaine D. can edify Esoteric Inanity as to the presence of such a person. If not then maybe elaborate upon the cogence of her vision in a neoteric sense. Forgive this one’s skepticism, but the efficacy of such an ideal, while no doubt noble, would seem to be merely whimsical at this time.

“Personally, the NRA lost me when they started spouting off on a bunch of issues that have nothing to do with guns: gayness, brownness, marriage, whatever.”

Yes, as one who believes in the same ideals of Martin Luther King Jr. regarding equality (Meaning equal opportunity for all people irrespective of any other factor. No laws/policies inhibiting, nor any laws/policies promoting a specific race/gender/self styled identity. Equality is an axiomatic concept, not some means by which to social engineer this nation.) and a certain degree of self autonomy regarding ones own body on matters like abortion, inoculation and modification, Esoteric Inanity found the NRA’s recent paradigm shift to be disconcerting.

“As a liberal gun owner, I want the discussion about guns to be about GUNS. Nothing else. Not religion. Not lifestyle. Not whether someone has kids or not or whether they drink a black coffee or a soy latte or ride an electric scooter or drive a truck to work.”

This sentiment is shared. However, many prominent democrats have conflated gun issues with their own political agendas of social justice, racism and sexism. How can one merely have a mere conversation about guns when the subject has been intentionally ingrained into such tendentious issues?

“Unfortunately I have already seen GOA start to go down the same mistaken path that the NRA did that lost the liberal gun owners. Already heard some anti gay rhetoric.”

Could Elaine D. perhaps elaborate upon this as Esoteric Inanity is unaware of such rhetoric from GOA. While their absolutist stance on the 2nd Amendment would no doubt offend many, this one has never known of any other controversial issue tied to them or their leadership.

“What in the hell does gayness have to do with guns? Answer: IT DOESN’T. Leave all the social crap aside and just talk about guns. There’s plenty to do with just guns. Be bipartisan and welcoming to people who own and use guns responsibly regardless of how they vote, if you run a gun owners association.”

Esoteric Inanity becomes very happy when he holds his gun……In all seriousness, rights should indeed be universal concerns amongst all people. However, as so often happens where people are involved, one will find divisiveness, elitism and arrogance. Though camaraderie, wisdom and acceptance can also be present, it really just depends on respect, both for oneself and those around them.

Political parties don’t stay the same. They change. They change based on the people within them. They go one way, and they can go back the other way. I just happen to think we are in an unfortunate time where we have forgotten that, and seem to think that there is no possibility of change. But change is inevitable, and it is worthy to try for honest bipartisanship on these issues even if we are not sure how to do it. Reiterating the old ‘us vs. them’ is getting things nowhere.

“Political parties don’t stay the same. They change. They change based on the people within them. They go one way, and they can go back the other way.”

The chance that the Democrat party will shift back to a more moderate position on the 2A then? At this time it would seem to be a quaint and pollyanaish notion. However, as Elaine D. has correctly stated, societal views tend to be quite fluid. Who knows what the future shall bring?

“I just happen to think we are in an unfortunate time where we have forgotten that, and seem to think that there is no possibility of change. But change is inevitable, and it is worthy to try for honest bipartisanship on these issues even if we are not sure how to do it. Reiterating the old ‘us vs. them’ is getting things nowhere.”

A final inquiry, what does ElaineD. mean by honest bipartisanship? Is the goal further legislative restrictions on law abiding citizen’s right to keep and bear arms? Is it to enable more people to excercise their 2A rights, restoration to those formerly prohibited for example? To remove former restrictions? Or is it something more subtle?

If ElaineD. hasn’t realized by now, the 2A/Gun community is composed of an array of individuals with differing degrees of magnitude in regard to their beliefs. Hardline pro rights advocates like Esoteric Inanity believe in a nigh unlimited right of all people to keep and bear arms, among other things. Hobbyists and hunters don’t necessarily share in such a view. However this one did not start out as an absolutist, as ElaineD. previously proclaimed, things (and people) change.

Eso, I suspect you are wrong, and that there are many senators and reps who support and believe in 2A, but if they wish to keep their $180,000/year job they will STFU about it and toe the party line. IOW, whores, and there are plenty of RINOs along the same lines.

LarryinTexas may be correct, perhaps there are some dems in the House and senate that secretly support the 2A. However, can such people be trusted to stand up for it when needed, and if not then what good will ultimately come of their support? If one can be paid to ignore their convictions, then how resolute were they to begin with?

Esoteric Inanity is not optimistic regarding the prospects, but also agrees that any genuine assistance should be welcomed.

If you’re voting for Democrats you’re not a liberal, you’re a progressive and there’s a big difference between the two. Language has been hijacked and now masses are assigning whatever meaning they want regardless of the textbook definition.

You talk a good game about sticking to the topic and neutrality yet your posts are rife with identity politics. You can’t go a few sentences without reminding us about your identity driven special interest group of the day… Oh, how people just love to be lumped into broad categories…. In reality you’re just garden variety citizen like the rest of us (and so are they….)

Then you tell us guns shouldn’t be a partisan issue while giving us a lecture on gay and religious inclusion. Give me a break….. Cite me a link to where the NRA or GOA has stated ill will towards a particular demographic.

The bottom line is your virtue signaling for the same party that first pushed gun control against the very demographic you so bravely protect her online…..

Don’t get me wrong I agree the NRA is nothing more than a big lobbyist group and the GOP is the democratic wing of current republicans. I guess I don’t agree with the smug way you say it….

I take it commentators like you are the new business model on TTAG so instead of posting in need to catch up with the current trend of pro gun party line democrats.

Don’t conflate “people’s actual identity” with “the politicizing of that identity.” If I say I’m Vietnamese American and a feminist, it’s because I am. If someone else chooses to politicize that for their own purposes, that doesn’t change the fact that I’m those things. And there’s nothing wrong with someone stating their identity in any way they choose to. In fact, I would question why someone would have a problem with that. Everyone has an identity.

I refuse to believe you can sincerely believe in leaving alone peoples’ gun rights while simultaneously wanting to invade, direct, and punish every other aspect of their lives. That’s what “liberalism” amounts to, anymore, I’m afraid. You want to tell them what they can buy, what they can own, what they can sell, what they can do, what they can’t do, who they should be friends with, who they should “other,” what they can say, what they can’t say, what they must say, who they must support, who they must denounce.

At its core, modern liberalism is all about finding what other persons’ activity bothers you in some manner, and ‘governing’ them into compliance with some collectivist vision crafted by mass-manipulators of public opinion. Gun rights are completely, utter incompatible with that mindset, and have only resisted it this long because of gun owners’ dedication to the even holier cow; consumerism. We bought ourselves time and protection through commerce…and now the leftists such as yourself are on the march to attack our access to commerce; insurance, credit, loans, cash; all of them under assault by you would-be tyrants.

You’re generalizing and conflating, as many on this blog do. Doesn’t look to me like your side is doing much to protect rights despite the rhetoric. If you don’t think a bipartisan approach is the road to better success, that’s fine. I do. And I will continue to maintain that view.

Supposedly pro-2A but voting for a party that wants to repeal the 2nd Amendment. That’s certainly a contradiction.

In addition, the NRA and the GOA are attacking everything about the Democrats/Left because of the continuous attack on the 2nd Amendment by them. From the NFA in 1934, the GCA in 1968, and all of the other, smaller, infringements since.

Both the NRA and GOA attack Democrats/Left in ways that are outside of purely 2nd Amendment issues because the Democrats/Left are using those other issues to justify more gun control.

The Democrats/Left say the Bill of Rights and specifically the 2nd Amendment, is racist. That’s a another contradiction since the first gun control laws were instituted to prevent blacks from possessing firearms to defend themselves against white supremacists.

I just want all sides to respect the Bill of Rights (and the US Constitution) in a manner consistent with the Founders intent (Originalism) and stop infringing on all of the enumerated inalienable rights contained therein.

Liberals’ beliefs ARE contradiction; the whole point is to have such a conflicted, irrational mindset that no thought is present whatsoever, and in the ecstasy of ego-death they join the collective, where they can be controlled & manipulated by instinct & emotion alone. Free from all thought & responsibility.

There is no “bipartisan support” for gun rights; it’d be jolly if there were, but so would be legal machine guns. It ain’t happening, not until some even more-mythical libertarian faction of the DNC splinters off and joins the 1/5-1/4 of Republican libertarians still in existence, and somehow that ~1/9th of the population can politically fend off quite literally the rest of the world united against it.

Chasing bipartisan support is how we got in this situation. Bipartisan support for gun control is what we have now. “Getting out in front of it” is a lie told by liberal liars like yourself, has never been enough to sate you busy-bodies, nor will it ever be. You seek satisfaction by tormenting others at the end of the day; my aggravation & pain is your sustenance, so you will continue to take from me, in accordance with your need.

Run for office as a brazenly pro-gun Democrat, and wind up elected & not arrested or physically attacked for your trouble, and I MIGHT begin to believe there’s hope that awful organization has a place for gun owners. It’s been one long train of abused minorities for those bastards since Head Bastard Jackson himself founded them. Until then, staking out our own turf and fortifying it diligently is the only option we have if we are under assault from friend & foe alike…and that includes expelling people who want to leave the gates open “in the name of friendship” to our demonstrably-implacable enemies.

I actually agree with nearly everything you said, but here’s the bottom line: we on the right didn’t one day decide that in order to be pro gun you had to have a bunch of other specific opinions on unrelated topics. I would LOVE for gun rights to be a bipartisan matter, but the mainstream left openly despises guns and those who dare to own them. Let’s try something: name ONE Democrat representative, at the national level, who is truly pro gun, meaning they would oppose any and all gun control and have the voting and rhetoric record to prove it. It has become a Republican issue for the sole reason that the Democrats turned their backs on it a long time ago.

You’re always saying that there are plenty of pro gun Democrat voters. If that’s the case, why are there no Democrat pro gun reps?

I can’t speak for all liberal gun owners. But from what I’ve seen on the forums I follow and my own experience, I think this may be what’s happening:

We liberal gun owners are quite willing to try to influence our representatives. However, even when we do that, even when we put the work into it, we’re still treated as though we are “anti gun” by everyone on the Right. Our efforts are pretty much wasted, and a lot of us give up on it after a while and choose the platform where at least there’s some possibility of our voice being heard. Because to many people who consider themselves Right, even considering any ideas considered Left makes you some kind of 2A traitor.

At least in my state, I haven’t talked to one single Democratic official who is actually strongly anti gun as in “take away guns.” The big thing is stuff like background checks and ERPOS, and even the Texas Republicans are looking at those or equivalents, so that’s both sides. I’ve never talked to an official here who has ever said anything about restricting guns, magazines, etc.

Now. That’s Texas, and Texas is a pretty unique place. I see on here that it’s very different in other states. Mostly because enough of the voters in those states seem to want restrictions on things, enough to override the voters that don’t. So it brings up an interesting question for me: If the vast majority of people in a particular state want, and will work for, and vote for, very restrictive gun policy, are we suggesting that the Feds should roll in and strip that away from them? And is that not only big government but BIG BIG government? Probably not a question to which there is a real answer, but an interesting one to me lately.

Elaine, by your logic you *just* said, slavery is okay if it is popular in that state. You also just said that your local Dem reps are only discussing *more* restrictions such as BCs and ERPOs. Not exactly helping your case that the DNC is somehow not uniformly anti-2A…

If the vast majority of people in a particular state want, and will work for, and vote for, very restrictive gun policy, are we suggesting that the Feds should roll in and strip that away from them? And is that not only big government but BIG BIG government?

The answers to those questions depend on your worldview of society, government, and immutable standards of right and wrong.

If people and government define right and wrong, then government can do anything and it is “right” — which means slavery was “right” in the United States and Germany’s Third Reich was “right” to annihilate Jews.

Now, let us get more specific. Suppose the vast majority of people in New Jersey want effective resistance to rape to be a serious felony — and New Jersey’s government obliges with corresponding changes to it laws. Should we all just leave New Jersey alone: let the state prosecute and imprison the minority of “prudish” women who effectively resist rape? Or would it be righteous if any entity — whether that entity was the militia in New Jersey, another state government, or the federal government — went to New Jersey to stop the state from imprisoning women who effectively resist rape?

Choose your answer carefully because that is exactly what is happening: many state governments have laws which make it a felony to effectively resist rape (where your method of effectively resisting rape is carrying and, if necessary, using a firearm).

“I want to see gun rights held as a BIPARTISAN issue. This would bring us liberal gun owners into the fold in a positive way.”
A fine sentiment, but can you name one currently Democrat politician elected to a federal office who is a staunch supporter of 2A? I hear lots that say they support 2A, but then they go on to talk about needing assault weapons bans, universal checks/end of private sales, licensing, etc. Zell Miller and Bill Richardson were the last that come to mind. I don’t follow Texas state politics, but are there even any state-wide pro gun Democrats?

I didn’t realize Mr. Steube went to Washington, a loss for the Florida legislature but the Republicrat leadership there would continue to thwart him in committees. Negron and Galvano follow Mitch’s playbook, let the pro-gun legislation die in committee (even when you control all branches) instead of sending it to the floor to even get votes and names recorded on it.

That way, the status quo is maintained, the Republicrats don’t have to vote to actually oppose it to prevent it from passing, so they can continue to say they are pro second amendment, and if you just elect them again and again they wiill get stuff done, they just need an even bigger supermajority, that is all!

It will be interesting to see with Steube out of Florida Senate if anyone else will take his place to push open carry or campus carry.

You really think a Senate that eagerly passed gun control under Scott had a majority to pass pro-gun stuff, regardless of the leadership’s machinations? Both in the national senate, and in many state legislatures like Florida’s, those ‘obstructionist’ leaders are just running interference for their members who have to maintain a phony/worthless pro-gun image, but who are personally anti-gun or terrified of anti-gun voters in their districts, but raise a lot of campaign cash from gullible pro-gun voters desperate to avoid the openly anti-gun candidate.

We might have realized the situation soon enough to nip it in the bud by primary-ing some bad apples, but groups like the NRA/GOP convinced us that we should be content with merely resisting gun control when it comes from Democrats, giving them time to pump more and more phony pro-gun members into the leadership, bilking us for “advocacy” donations all the while.

If it weren’t for the NRA none of us would have 2nd Amendment rights today.

The NRA has a good track record for lobbying for our rights in DC and in states working with state rifle associations. Legal defense and offense for our rights all the time and they pay some hefty legal fees which most often are NOT reimbursed.

I am a Life Member and contribute regularly.

The GOA and NAGR are great organizations run by very good conscientious people.

And we must defeat Globalist Socialism and any other threat to the Bill of Rights (like the UN).

I don’t think an Article V convention of States is a good idea but I would like to see a Constitutional amendment that would prohibit any treaty that the United States enters into from infringing on any our inalienable rights or surrendering any of our national sovereignty.

Get the hell off this blog, Dudley Brown. I can’t believe you’re still flying around ‘net forums pimping your crappy little scam of a gun rights group. NAGR has primarily existed to scab onto the work of real advocates, and more often than not you bang your greedy little fists at whatever table your bribed your way onto & queer the net-positive deal being hammered out by –again– the real advocates. Accomplishing less than nothing, besmirching the work of serious advocates, and wasting the donations of countless well-meaning generous gun owners. Oh, and diffusing the critical focus of gun rights advocacy by tossing around off-topic scare-mongering shit like socialism & illegal immigration. Hook up with the GOP like the NRA has if you want to hustle more baby boomers, but stop pretending to give a damn about gun rights, and leave it to the serious players like SAF.

“Waahh, SAF wrote Manchin-Toomey which never went anywhere!” Yeah, well what’s your shitty little scam of a gun rights group NAGR accomplished besides screwing up good things wrought by others’ hard work and giving pro-gun advocacy a bad name?

I have one slice of buttered sourdough toast and half a glass of milk for breakfast most mornings. Because of this, I never developed Guillain-Barre-Strohl Syndrome. Given your rationale regarding the NRA, this should make perfect sense to you.

I do not – based on my ongoing time in a Socialist country every year where my relatives live – believe that socialism can take root in the United States. It is a complete mismatch for our culture from the word Go. I think this is a false issue with very little real merit that is being used to keep gun owners divided – portraying liberal gun owners as somehow being ‘the enemy’ or ‘anti 2A.’
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Elaine D. I have serious doubts about your statement on socialism. I think you truly believe what you say but I don’t.

Over Thanksgiving weekend I had the opportunity to talk with a 17 year old high school senior relative. Both parents are conservatives, both shooters, one a dedicated competitive shooter. But that 17 year old is a well indoctrinated, true believer in socialism. It is the answer to all problems. They didn’t get that at home, it came from the public education system. And this is a competitive entry, highly rated STEM high school.

I have heard the same thing from other people for years but I experienced this myself and nothing I could say would sway this young person. Polls of young people show they are massively in favor of socialism. And they can vote in the next election.

The youth of America have been indoctrinated in socialist propaganda by an education system controlled from bottom to top by the left. Demographics will overthrow the Constitution and destroy America, probably much sooner than we can imagine.

I have a hard time reconciling you being pro gun and voting for those dedicated to taking our guns.

17 year olds believe a lot of things at 17 that later, at 25, will seem like fond but foolish ideas.

Socialism as a theory surely sounds nice to many. In practice, it’s quite different, and it ONLY works in a culture that puts community over individualism, the family first, and relies on those extended networks heavily to get things done. The United States is not that country. It has never been that country. This is why all the communes of the ‘60s failed miserably and would still fail today if someone were to run the same experiment again.

It’s easy to believe in something you’ve never tried to implement. Try to implement it and your views will quickly change. I have found that the version of Socialism people tend to “believe in” here is extremely idealized, with little to no real world experience of trying to set up or manage such a system to base that idealism on. Time and time again, people in the United States have tried to set up these “communal” models, and seen them fail. Maybe that’s what these young people will have to do as well. Or perhaps we could encourage them to do just that: set up a community after their ideal model and then see how it plays out in real life.

I have a good friend (the one I went to Africa with) who was interested in the ‘60s communes and visited quite a few of them, and studied why they fell apart. They were very much based on this egalitarian “sharing”model right? Very idealistic. I think the maximum number of time that any one of them lasted was about two years. Turns out that in such a situation, the good looking and charming people get all the fun stuff and the less attractive and socially adept people get all the work. And then the whole thing explodes in a giant teary fireball.

I certainly know folks of the stripe that you speak. Mostly they’ve never actually had the experience of trying to create some kind of communal system in the United States. Or if they’ve done so, it’s failed miserably. Some learn from that, some don’t.

If libs can get all youth to vote for them for 8 years (18-25), then if they change their minds they may be executed. Without a trial, much less due process, those don’t matter any more, and if you think they do you’re a racist and will be executed tomorrow.

I want to know where Elaine D is getting this BS that the NRA has taken a public stand that is anti-gay, anti-whatever. I have never seen such a statement coming from them.

On the contrary, some months back they ran an editorial in Shooting Illustrated that very clearly stated they do not take a stand on any issue other than the Second Amendment. The editorial was very welcoming to anyone of any lifestyle- especially women and minorities, but there was a shout-out to the gay community as well.

So there is no doubt in my mind that the NRA is totally single-issue. If Elaine D can point me to some source that proves otherwise, I’d be perfectly willing to take a look. Otherwise, it’s just a lot of divisive BS from someone whose motives I’m really starting to question.

I’m personally very conflicted. On one hand, I disagree with many of the things she writes. On the other, I now view her as a counterpoint to the often toxic culture in the 2A community that regularly threatens to push me away. If anything, Elaine D. should keep writing for TTAG so the jackasses that frequent this site can jerk each other off in the comments section attacking her opinions.

I have no issue at all with Elaine D. providing articles and comments on this site. If we believe there is a weakness or error in her positions, we should offer corrections. (And I hope that she would sincerely reconsider her positions in light of our corrections.)

We should also consider her positions in case she recognizes a weakness or error in our positions. (And I hope that we would sincerely reconsider our positions in light of her corrections.)

The GOA, SAF and NRA are all imperfect. Even so I keep my membership up in each of them and donate $100 a year to each, out of the annual bonus my employer gives us (don’t get excited, it ain’t that big a bonus).

They all do some good. The NRA would do a hell of a lot more good without Wayne and Cox at the helm, but I can’t change that.

Oh and they all constantly beg me for more money. No pause ever in the flood of paper mail, email, even some robo-calls. It is a constant state of emergency, the next big loss is constantly upon us.

Gun rights are DOA this session. We are on the defensive now that Democrats have the House. Best we can hope for is that the Senate/Trump vote any anti-rights bills down. Granted, I am not holding my breath. Trump has shown himself to be a gun grabber and the Republicans had two years to restore some of our rights. They did nothing of the sort. Much like their claims of being “fiscally responsible”, the Republican party is a pack of lies. They only support small government and gun rights when they are not in power. Once they regain power, they pass gun control and they increase our debt, deficits, and spending. The best we can hope for over the next two years is that Ruth Bader Ginsberg finally dies and gets replaced by another Judge in the Gorsuch line of thinking. .

The GOP “fiscal responsibility” claims are a blast from the past for me, I don’t think I’ve even heard it mentioned in decades. Nobody even makes excuses any more, huge debt and deficits are simply assumed. By both parties.

OTOH, it strikes me that it is essentially impossible to fight a nation trained to socialism for decades without addressing the free stuff constantly promised by liberals, and now by conservatives as well. “I’m going to give you all manner of free shit, and cut your taxes, the Easter Bunny will make up the difference!” I hate the idea of a balanced budget amendment, but it might be the only way out. How about a budget balanced 4 years at a time, corresponding to presidential terms? Starts 20 Jan, if spending is $1 over balanced 4 years later, the pres, VP, and all 535 senators and congressmen are OUT, and can never again serve in any elected position.

The chorus from “The Gambler” fits nearly every stance taken on legislation, particularly when things look dark for your own side. If your smart enough to walk away at the time rather than be dragged off and buried, you’ll have ample opportunity to re-group, replenish, re-provision, re-arm, re-deploy and be successful.

For the NRA haters here, the majority of whom were not able to BS their way into any position of NRA leadership, or who were cast aside because of their idiotic and unrealistic view points, I’ll remind them that crafting the semiauto ban when it was going to pass regardless of any “no compromise” posturing by the Knox- and Pratt-tards of the day has led to more and better firearms and accessories today than anything we had in 1993, and in states such as my own, the NICS factor is almost a non-issue. Concealed carry on demand in the overwhelming majority of the states is now a done deal and the chances of it being taken away now that so many people have permits will be nearly impossible, as will be any additional attempts to ban small, concealable handguns. And suppressors, which weren’t even on the horizon in many states have now become fairly common if the owner wants to jump through the hoops and pay the ticket. GOA had nothing to do with any of this at any real, measurable level, neither did the NAGRs. How some of the posters around here can read a self-serving post and believe it to be gospel is ludicrous, but when one has absolutely no historical perspective from which to base an opinion, let alone fact, it will continue to be a focal point of this blog and many of its subscribers.

What about their position on bump fire stocks, gun confiscation without due process, wanting full autos banned, not caring about modern rifles and gun culture, solidifying themselves as a Republican party group, constantly using scare tactics to raise money for themselves instead of spending money on lawsuits and modern gun culture, paying the higher-ups millions of dollars a year, having back room conversations with politicians to plan what should be the next anti gun “compromise” bill and spending most of their time on white America and hunters? I’m sure there’s more.